Three Pretoria high court Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) officials have been placed on precautionary suspension.
The OCJ said on Friday its officials, who cannot yet be named, are suspects in an investigation by the Hawks into fraudulent and corrupt activities in the court.
On Tuesday the Hawks conducted a search and seizure operation in the court relating to allegations of fraudulent court documents being unlawfully issued by an employee of that court. It is alleged an employee had been issuing fraudulent court documents to undocumented foreigners to prevent their deportation to their countries of origin.
The Hawks said the search and seizure operation specifically targeted one office and an individual believed to be central to the commission of the offences. Exhibits were seized for investigation.
The officials were suspended on Wednesday.
“The OCJ takes a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and the officials were therefore placed on precautionary suspension to allow investigations to proceed without being compromised.”
TimesLIVE
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